I've looked through the archives but didn't quite find what I was looking for. I don't intend to hike at night, I always get to camp in time to check for widow-makers, but with the days shorter now, I'd like an adequate light for doing camp chores, hanging bear bag,cooking, etc. None of the lamps I have are great quality, and I'd like to have one with a red beam, especially when camping with others. I do sometimes read at night, so I guess I'm looking for something with some variability in beam power, plus the red. Oh, and of course lightweight.
Thanks as always :)

Edited by leighb on 11/27/2011 07:11:48 MST.

Not ultralight, but I like my Black Diamond Spot headlamp. It has three separate lights -- a very bright main beam, a lower power task light, and a red light for night. The two white lights can be varied over a wide power range. The red is locked in so I don't get blinded when I reach for it in the middle of the night. The main switch can be locked so it doesn't come on inside my pack and drain the battery (hate it when that happens.) It's around 3 ounces. Might be more than you need, but I find it very useful.

I also have a pinch light with a red LED that weighs almost nothing and is good for use on those midnight nature calls. But I can't read with it, or do most camp chores.

The Petzl Tactikka is pretty good... I have it and use it when on astronomy trips. You can get it for <$30 now.

Hi! Take a look at alpkit gamma light. I does have four different light settings red, green, white and realy strong and wide white. At the back of battery housing there's another set of red lights which are good for night biking or you are easier spoted by fellow hiker. And they are dead cheap to!
Cheers

Might check out the Princeton Tex Remix, now shipping with a 100 lumens white light but you can get the secondary lights in red, green, or white. Both the 100 lumens spot and the 3 led secondary have low and high settings. $40

Another vote for the PT Remix. Two decent settings for the Red option that are suitable for night hiking. I also tried the PT Byte headlamp but was very disappointed with the red setting--too wide a beam and not enough light.

PS Be careful when purchasing--there are 3 options for this light--white, green and red for the 3 ultrabright LEDs. These are in addition to the standard single LED (white).

I really like mine and it only weighs 2oz and cost $18.
Hope you find one that will work.
Dustin

If the red light option is a hang-up, consider a Photon Micro-Lite II in red to use along with your white led headlamp. The Photon can ride on a necklace or keychain and give you a backup lighting source--- nice to have one when the batteries go dead on you main light and you can't see to put them in!

Petzl Tikka XP2 is a good option. It helpfully returns to red mode when switched on, if that's the last mode used.

Cheers,

Rick

dont buy bats again ,...

weights ~2.7 oz all in weight

@ Thanks Dale, I have a photon (not red lamp though)that I keep in my "ditch kit, aka a small waterproof container that fits in my pants pocket that includes several emergency items" and I do recall reading somewhere about a situation where someone's batteries died and they couldn't see to get them back in; later it was discovered that they both went in in the same direction as opposed to opposite,which was the big issue, so always a good idea to have a backup :)

Edited by leighb on 11/27/2011 12:30:02 MST.

Why red. Yes short term use of red light will have minimal effect on your night vision. But with a good efficient LED lamp (such as the princeton Tec Fuel, white no red) you can use the lamp on bright for 100 hours or more before you have to change the batteries. For the princeton tec fuel (I purchased it this year) you could hike all night for a week with the lamp on high befor you would need to change the bateries. With it on full bright you wouldn't need to use night vision much. However I find the medium setting more than enough for my needs so I should be able to go more than a week of all night use.

The Fuel does use 3 AAA batteries so you do have to get the polarity right when you replace them. Worst case you would only need to do that once per week and you could easily do that during the day. The other option would be to get a lamp that uses one AA battery. That way it would be simple to get the battery installed correctly at night.

I'm with Steven. There are incredible headlights like the Zebralight H600 that can put out 750 lumens or put out an amount of light so dim that it barely messes up your night vision. It's very efficient, so you can use it on long trips for many hours each night before needing to charge it. Ever since switching to efficient 200+ lumen lights, I don't care much about preserving my night vision.

Apart from helping with night vision, red is a great colour to observe wildlife at night as many animals cannot perceive red light so remain unaware they are being watched. I have watched possums and Tasmanian Devils creeping around my camp looking for food with my Petzl eLite and Little (Fairy) Penguins landing on a beach at night with my Petzl Tikka XP2.

I have the Mammut S-Flex and it fits my needs nicely. It has four settings: dim white, bright white, solid red, blinky red. The red LEDs are tiny and best for chores and tent stuff... not really bright enough to hike. The white LED is plenty bright though. Uses one AA so it's pretty lightweight. Mine weighs 48 grams (1.7 ounces)

I wish all my camp mates were wearing red headlamps too so they wouldn't blind me!